Pleasure (Feist album)

Pleasure is the fifth studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Feist, released on 28 April 2017, through Universal Music Canada. Thematically, the album is said to explore "emotional limits ... loneliness, private ritual, secrets, shame, mounting pressures, disconnect, tenderness, rejection, care and the lack thereof."^[2] All of the songs on the album are actually raw takes, as Feist explained on her Twitter: "Our desire was to record that state without guile or go-to's and to pin the songs down with conviction and our straight up human bodies."^[1]

Pleasure
Studio album by Feist
Released	28 April 2017
Recorded	Early 2016[1]
Length	53:28
Label	Universal
Producer	Leslie Feist Mocky Renaud LeTang
Feist chronology
Metals (2011) Pleasure (2017) Multitudes (2023)
Singles from Pleasure
"Pleasure" Released: 17 March 2017 "Century"

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.6/10[3]
Metacritic	80/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
The A.V. Club	A−[6]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[7]
The Irish Times	[8]
Mojo	[9]
The Observer	[10]
Pitchfork	7.7/10[11]
Q	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Uncut	9/10[14]

Accolades

Semester-end lists

Pleasure on semester-end best-of lists

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
The A.V. Club	The Best Albums of 2017 So Far	*	[15]
Consequence of Sound	Top 25 Albums of 2017 (So Far)	13	[16]
Exclaim!	Top 29 Albums of 2017 So Far	3	[17]
Spin	50 Best Albums of 2017 So Far	24	[18]
Stereogum	50 Best Albums of 2017 So Far	19	[19]
Under the Radar	Top 50 Albums of 2017 So Far	13	[20]

Year-end lists

Pleasure on year-end best-of lists

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
BrooklynVegan	Top 50 Albums of 2017	8	[21]
Drowned in Sound	Favourite Albums of 2017	7	[22]
Exclaim!	Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums of 2017	2	[23]
Noisey	The 100 Best Albums of 2017	65	[24]
The Ringer	The Best Albums of 2017	10	[25]
The Skinny	Top 50 Albums of 2017	27	[26]
Spin	50 Best Albums of 2017	42	[27]
Stereogum	50 Best Albums of 2017	40	[28]
Uncut	Albums of the Year 2017	74	[29]
Under the Radar	Top 100 Albums of 2017	30	[30]
Uproxx	50 Best Albums of 2017	26	[31]

Track listing

Pleasure track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Pleasure"	Leslie Feist Dominic Salole	4:45
2.	"I Wish I Didn't Miss You"	Feist	4:18
3.	"Get Not High, Get Not Low"	Feist	4:57
4.	"Lost Dreams"	Feist	5:18
5.	"Any Party"	Feist Salole	5:22
6.	"A Man Is Not His Song"	Feist	4:41
7.	"The Wind"	Feist	4:35
8.	"Century" (featuring Jarvis Cocker)	Feist Jarvis Cocker Brian LeBarton	5:53
9.	"Baby Be Simple"	Feist Salole	6:21
10.	"I'm Not Running Away"	Feist Salole	3:24
11.	"Young Up"	Feist Salole	3:54
Total length:			53:28

Personnel

Musicians

• Leslie Feist – vocals, guitar (all tracks); organ (3, 10, 11); drums, percussion (3); melodica (4), keyboards (5, 8), piano (7), electric bass (8), Mellotron (9)
• Mocky – background vocals (1, 5, 6), drums (1, 5, 6, 8), electric bass (1, 3, 4, 6, 9–11), Mellotron (1), keyboards (3–5, 7), percussion (3, 4, 7–9), organ (8)
• Paul Taylor – background vocals (1, 5, 6), electric bass (1, 2), synthesizer (1), drums (3, 10, 11), percussion (3, 7–9), programming (7)
• Chilly Gonzales – piano (1), organ (8)
• Renaud Letang – background vocals (6)
• Choir! Choir! Choir! – vocals (6)
• Colin Stetson – saxophone (7)
• Jarvis Cocker – oration (8)

Technical

• Feist – production
• Mocky – production
• Renaud Letang – production, mixing, engineering
• Mandy Parnell – mastering
• Thomas Moulin – engineering, mixing assistance
• Jane Tattersall – editing, sound design
• Bella Blasko – engineering assistance
• Guillaume Dujardin – engineering assistance
• Scott McDowell – engineering assistance

Artwork

• Mary Rasmussen – art direction, design
• Cass Bird – cover photo
• Jeremy Stewart – design
• Tyler Clark Burke – lettering
• Mary Rozzi – photography

Charts

Chart performance for Pleasure

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[32]	69
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[33]	13
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[34]	14
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[35]	38
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[36]	7
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[37]	70
French Albums (SNEP)[38]	52
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[39]	12
Irish Albums (IRMA)[40]	41
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[41]	3
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[42]	27
Scottish Albums (OCC)[43]	37
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[44]	13
UK Albums (OCC)[45]	48
US Billboard 200[46]	91